Saturday, December 25, 2010
Glenn Beck - The Lone Voice Of Reason In An Age Of Hysteria
In what has increasingly become an era defined by pandemonium, rancor, and blind ignorance, one stabilizing voice emerged from the din this year to soothe the souls of Americans everywhere, make us recognize the common decency that binds us all, and supplant the poisonous aura of fear and chaos with a simple, well-thought-out message of peace, prosperity, and reconciliation.
That man is television and syndicated radio host Glenn Beck.
Every single day of 2010, Beck's quiet words of humility and reason have touched the hearts of all Americans, healing countless wounds and elevating the level of our national discourse. Indeed, just as Martin Luther King, Jr.—to whom Beck has so aptly and correctly compared himself—once showed the nation the way forward to compassion and civility, so have Beck's stunningly eloquent broadcasts, inspiring political rallies, and bestselling books reassured every living citizen that we are all joined by the same ever-beating heart of kindness, and that gentler roads lie ahead if we could all just settle down, lower our voices, and focus on solving the actual, meaningful problems of our world together.
For in these troubled times of rising unemployment, political infighting, anger, and persecution, America needs a man who can put the issues in perspective and bring us comfort; a man who cares not about race, creed, sexual orientation, or party affiliation; a man who sees beyond petty political maneuverings, emotional exploitation, greed, and opportunism; a man who encourages all of us to disregard the ceaseless clamor of ideologues and think for ourselves; a man who sees beyond his own ego and cares only for what is good and right and just. In short, it needs a man like Glenn Lee Beck.
Thank God for Glenn Beck and all he has done. After all, what would our country be like if not for him?
http://www.theonion.com/articles/glenn-beck-the-lone-voice-of-reason-in-an-age-of-h,18612/
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Wendy's will be discontinuing the widely disliked hamburger sandwich.
DUBLIN, OH—Representatives for the restaurant chain Wendy's announced Tuesday that due to the item's continually dismal performance, the company would be discontinuing the widely disliked hamburger sandwich.
The hamburger sandwich, which Wendy's sources described as a ground beef "patty" placed between vegetables and two slices of bread, has long been the restaurant's worst-selling menu item, leading executives to decide that the time had finally come to phase it out of all 6,650 Wendy's locations.
"For more than 40 years, we've tried in vain to get the hamburger sandwich to catch on with our customers, but it is now clear that we're never going to make that happen," Wendy's CEO Roland Smith told reporters. "We knew from the beginning that the hamburger sandwich wasn't going to be for everyone, but we still hoped in vain that it might develop a nice little niche following over time. Unfortunately, it never did."
"After millions of dollars and countless man-hours, we have arrived at a very simple truth," Smith added. "People just flat-out don't like hamburger sandwiches."
Originally devised as an alternative to classic Wendy's favorites like the cucumber tea sandwich or the watercress-and-beet salad with a light vinaigrette, the hamburger sandwich has languished on the restaurant's menu for decades, due largely, officials claimed, to an unwillingness among customers to order something outside their comfort zone.
While the company has experimented with variations on the hamburger sandwich over the years, Wendy's representatives said such efforts have all been met with quizzical reactions—and sometimes even outright revulsion—from customers.
"Honestly, we tried everything," Wendy's research and development head Charles Cullen said. "We tried including free packets of our tomato catsup sauce, but people said the sauce was too sweet. Then we tried putting some cheese on top of the patty, but people didn't like how the cheese melted on the meat. We even tried stacking two hamburger sandwiches on top of each other, but of course everyone hated that because it just meant having to eat more hamburger sandwich."
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News Room
Human Head Found In Hamburger
"There's just something about the combination of flavors in a hamburger sandwich that naturally turns people off," Cullen added.
Company sources also announced that they would be phasing out their unpopular French-fried potatoes, which were added to the menu in an ill-fated, and some said bizarre, attempt to find a pairing for the hamburger sandwich—a combination deemed "thoroughly unappetizing" by 95 percent of Wendy's customers in a recent survey.
The side item will reportedly be replaced by the restaurant's beloved fresh celery sticks in all combo-meal deals.
Though Wendy's has sunk nearly $150 million dollars into the hamburger sandwich project since 1969, Smith maintained that Wendy's would remain financially solvent.
"Every company tries new ideas, and every company has successes and failures," Smith said. "Back in 1991, when we added windows to our restaurants where you could pick up your food in your car, we heard our customer's complaints loud and clear: 'Cars are for driving and food is for eating. Don't try to mix the two.' And so we stopped. This whole hamburger sandwich debacle will be no different."
Wendy's, of course, is only the latest in a series of fast-food restaurant chains to fail on a large scale with the hamburger sandwich: Similar botched attempts have been made by McDonald's, Carl's Jr., Jack in the Box, and the short-lived all-hamburger-sandwich concept restaurant Burger King, which opened and closed its doors within eight months in 1994.
Many industry analysts are saying that continued failure to introduce new products into an already established restaurant chain can have dire financial consequences.
"We've seen many companies in the past nearly bankrupt themselves with these kinds of ideas," food industry analyst Norm Horwitz said. "Look at KFC with their disastrous bucket-full-of-breaded-and-fried-chicken campaign. Or Dairy Queen with their cup full of ice cream and cookies. Perfect examples of why restaurants should stick to what they know."
"In my opinion, they'd all be better off if they stopped trying to think outside the box and just gave people what they wanted already," Horwitz continued. "Something simple like a nice bowl of zucchini goulash with a side of quinoa, and maybe an omega-3 fish oil supplement for the ride home." (http://www.theonion.com)
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Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Beware the Facebook "Dislike" Button
The Like button, and the ability to Like Facebook pages are popular tools. The Like feature provides a framework for users to help promote good content by voting for it with the Like button. However, many users wish they could also police bad content by giving it the thumbs down with a Dislike button.
The Facebook Dislike button scam works the same as many other viral messaging scams on Facebook. It eggs the recipient on by teasing--or imploring depending on the wording--that the Facebook friend has downloaded the "official DISLIKE button" and provides a link to download it and be part of the in-crowd.
Graham Cluley from security vendor Sophos highlighted the viral Facebook threat in a recent blog post. "Falling for any of these scams (which promise some lurid or eye-popping or exclusive content) typically trick you into giving a rogue Facebook application permission to access your profile, posting spam messages from your account and asking you to complete an online survey."
Cluley explains "If you do give the app permission to run, it silently updates your Facebook status to promote the link that tricked you in the first place, thus spreading the message virally to your Facebook friends and online contacts," adding "But you still haven't at this point been given a "Dislike" Facebook button, and the rogue application requires you to complete an online survey (which makes money for the scammers) before ultimately pointing you to a Firefox browser add-on for a Facebook dislike button developed by FaceMod."
Facemod does not appear to be connected to the scam. Its Firefox add-on is simply providing the ammunition that the scam needs to lure people into clicking the link and completing the survey to generate revenue for the scammers.
For organizations that allow even limited use of social networking sites such as Facebook, there is an underlying concern that IT admins should be aware of. This scam illustrates how easy it is to exploit the social nature of a site like Facebook--adding an inherent element of trust for messages that come from known friends.
IT admins should ensure that users are educated about the risks and provide guidance not to click on such links. This particular scam simply propagates itself virally and does no real harm per se, but having users in the habit of clicking links just because they come from trusted connections on a social network is an open door for malicious attacks as well.
Ultimately, do we really need a "Dislike" button? Didn't your mother teach you that if you don't have something nice to say, just don't say anything at all?
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Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Facebook feeds narcissism, survey says - CNN.com
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Execs cashed in as big health insurers sought rate hikes
Friday, August 06, 2010
COFFEE PARTY MISSION STATEMENT
The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Bumper-Sticker Politics
Taken from: http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2010/07/palin-ization-politics
The Palin-ization of Politics
Like me, Michelle Cottle thinks Sarah Palin is a natural PR genius. In the current issue of the New Republic she muses about how Palin manages to pull it off:
Her byline pops up now and again in the opinion pages (supporting McCain, bashing enviros). She periodically hits the campaign trail with favored candidates. She is a prolific and passionate tweeter. Her Facebook page overflows with thoughts on global events both past (DDay, Reagan’s Brandenburg Gate speech) and present (Israel, border security, the need to drill, baby, drill); news of upcoming appearances (a rally at the Lincoln Memorial with Glenn Beck, a possible U.K. jaunt to meet Margaret Thatcher); the latest media atrocities committed against her; and her rolling endorsements of “commonsense conservative” candidates who tickle her fancy. And, any day now, filming is scheduled to start on the docu-travelogue series in which Palin will “bring the wonder and majesty of Alaska” to TLC viewers.
In the midst of this aggressive visibility, however, Palin keeps a tight grip on her time in the public eye. She rarely sits down with non-conservative interviewers and eschews mix-’em-up formats pitting her viewpoint against that of a more liberal counterpart.
....It’s an unconventional media strategy, to be sure....Yet it’s hard to deny that Palin’s p.r. approach has not only succeeded but succeeded brilliantly. How? The most obvious element at work here is that Palin operates not as a politician but as a celebrity. “Most politicians can’t get on the cover of People,” sighs another GOP campaign veteran. “She’s on the cover almost every week.” The rules are different for celebrities: Palin’s megawattage enables her to command attention for every word and gesture, even as she largely stiff-arms The New York Times and “Meet the Press.” Similarly, candidates desperate for her endorsement are unlikely to (publicly) whine about whatever attention she dribbles their way, no matter how arbitrary or last-minute.
Palin is, in some sense, sui generis. And yet, I wonder if her press strategy is really such a unique consequence of her celebrity-hood or rather a sign of things to come? There's no question that she's pulled off her particular schtick better than anyone else in American politics, but there are others who have gone a ways down this road too. One is Barack Obama, who restricted press access to a startling degree during his presidential campaign. Keeping presidential campaign reporters on a tight leash is a trend that's been building for years, with every campaign more tightly controlled than the last, but still, Obama pretty clearly took this to a new level.
The other example who comes to mind (since I live in California), is Meg Whitman, who just ran a high-profile primary campaign in a big state with virtually no interaction with the mainstream press. She gave speeches, she ran ads (boy did she run ads), and she spoke to friendly reporters occasionally, but that was about it. And guess what? It worked. She proved that you really don't need the press anymore to run a successful campaign.
Now, obviously there are some catches to all this. Obama, like Palin, had a strong aura of celebrity that he could milk. And Meg Whitman has untold riches to spend. Your ordinary schmoe candidate in a smallish state or a single congressional district can't count on either of those things.
Still, I'm putting my money on the Palin-ization of politics. Partly this is because the mainstream press is dying anyway, and partly it's because Palin and others are demonstrating that you really don't need conventional press coverage to win. In fact, as Rand Paul and Sharron Angle can testify, it's a real risk. Between YouTube and Twitter and Facebook and blogs and friendly talk radio hosts — as well as more conventional things like TV ads and database-driven phone outreach — who needs the New York Times? Increasingly, I'll bet the answer is, no one.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
too young to retire, but too old to be hired.
Photo: Flickr/b4b2
Updated: Late Wednesday, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who are out of work. The issue will not be taken up again before the July 4th recess.
John Conley considers himself too young to retire, but too old to be hired.
Conley is 54 and once worked in the insurance industry making more than $100,000 a year. When he was laid off from his job in 2007, he thought that a year of severance would be more than enough to make it through to his next job, but he’s been unable to find work ever since. He says he has even tried to find a managerial job in a big chain store but he’s told he is overqualified and he believes he has three strikes against him: his age, his bad credit and the fact that there are now five job seekers for every one job.
“I’ve been down the Monster.com’s of the Internet and nothing has really come through,” Conley says. “It doesn’t mean it won’t happen, so I continue to call and look and see what may be available.”
Conley is one of millions of Americans who have exhausted their unemployment benefits. “I am out and done and I accept that,” Conley told me. He lost his benefits in February 2010 and he says he has accepted that Congress probably will not create an extra tier of benefits for people like himself – the so-called “99ers” — those who have received the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits.
But Conley says he feels for those who are about to lose benefits this month. “What is hard to believe for me is the games Congress is playing with millions of people;s lives with the unemployment insurance extension bill. It’s so unfair to millions who have just gotten thrown in the system to have it shut down on them.”
The typical number of weeks that states provide for unemployment benefits is 26 weeks. Since July 2008, Congress has implemented federal emergency extensions to help people during this particularly tough recession. But those extensions ran out in May. And last week, the Senate failed to pass a bill that would have extended unemployment benefits yet again for millions of Americans who are out of work. According to the Hill, there is an effort to push a stand-alone extension of jobless benefits before the July 4 recess.
“If nothing passes, it will be absolutely devastating for those who have been unemployed for more than a year; it affects whether people can pay their rent and buy groceries, plain and simple,” says Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director of the National Law Employment Project. He believes that those benefits have helped local economies, as well. “It will have a devastating effect on those economies hardest hit by unemployment. So if they pull the plug on unemployment benefits, then they are also pulling the plug on recovery.”
There is very real concern about long-term unemployment becoming a crisis that has reached every corner of American society. As Paul Krugman recently noted, current levels of unemployment in the U.S. “remain at levels that would have been considered catastrophic not long ago, and show no sign of coming down rapidly.”
Nearly half of the 9.7 percent of unemployed Americans, about 6.8 million people, have been without work for six months or longer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s the highest rate since World War II. And according to this analysis by the Pew Economic Policy Group, nearly a quarter of the nation’s 15 million unemployed workers have been jobless for a year or more. That percentage translates into 3.4 million people, roughly equivalent to the population of Connecticut.
And the future does not look bright: the National Employment Law Project projects that 1.63 million Americans will lose their benefits by the end of this week if the federal extensions are not renewed.
Meanwhile, it is unclear what will happen for “99ers” like Conley, who lives in Charlotte, N.C. For now, he gets by on his girlfriend’s modest nonprofit salary, which is barely more than minimum wage. And he says he spends his days calling friends for job leads and scouring employment websites. He doesn’t have enough money to relocate to a more affordable city, so he keeps hoping that the next day may bring good news on the job front.
Taken from: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/economy/prospects-remain-grim-for-the-unemployed-99ers/1869/
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Sunday, July 04, 2010
One republicans thoughts on the unemployment crisis
Republican Sharron Angle says the unemployed are spoiled
Unemployment running out ? Read this
In a little more than a year the United States flew $12 billion in cash to Iraq, much of it in $100 bills, shrink wrapped and loaded onto pallets. Vanity Fair reported in 2004 that "at least $9 billion" of the cash had "gone missing, unaccounted for." $9 billion.
Today, we learned that suitcases of $3 billion in cash have openly moved through the Kabul airport.
One U.S. official quoted by the Wall Street Journal said, "A lot of this looks like our tax dollars being stolen." $3 billion. Consider this as the American people sweat out an extension of unemployment benefits.
Last week, the BBC reported that "the US military has been giving tens of millions of dollars to Afghan security firms who are funneling the money to warlords." Add to that a corrupt Afghan government underwritten by the lives of our troops.
And now reports indicate that Congress is preparing to attach $10 billion in state education funding to a $33 billion spending bill to keep the war going.
Back home millions of Americans are out of work, losing their homes, losing their savings, their pensions, and their retirement security. We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war.
Bring our troops home. End the war. Secure our economy.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Mayhem Is Coming ?
I find this ad very distasteful and wonder about a company that attempts to sell a product through the use of scare tactics. The use of the word "Mayhem" is, given the state of our world today. a real turn-off. When I first heard this commercial I thought it was a trailer for a new zombie movie or a "2012" doomsday piece by the History Channel.
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
AFL-CIO NOW BLOG | Millionaires Killing Jobs
Monday, June 28, 2010
All McNuggets not created equal
British counterparts, but also chemicals not found across the Atlantic.
CNN investigated the differences after receiving a blog
comment asking about them.
American McNuggets (190
calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces)
contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based
product. They also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, “an anti-foaming agent” also
used in Silly Putty.
By contrast, British McNuggets (170 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1
gram of saturated fat for 4 pieces) lists neither chemical among its
ingredients.
“I would certainly choose the British nuggets over the American” says
Ruth Winter,
author of “A Consumer’s Dictionary of Food Additives.”
McDonald’s says the differences are based on the local tastes: In the
United States, McNuggets are coated and then cooked, in the United
Kingdom, they are cooked and then coated. As a result, the British
McNuggets absorb less oil and have less fat.
"You would find that if you looked at any of our core food items.
You'd see little, regional differences," says Lisa McComb, who handles
global media relations for McDonald's, which has more than 32,000
restaurants in 117 countries. "We do taste testing of all our food items
on an ongoing basis."
One apparent difference is only a matter of labeling, according to
McComb. U.K. McNuggets list ground celery and pepper, which are labeled
simply as "spices" in the United States, she says.
Marion
Nestle, a New York University professor and author of “What to Eat,”
says the tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane in the
McNuggets probably pose no health risks. As a general rule, though, she
advocates not eating any food with an ingredient you can’t pronounce.
Dimethylpolysiloxane is used as a matter of safety to keep the oil
from foaming, McComb says. The chemical is a form of silicone also used
in cosmetics and Silly Putty. A review of animal studies by The World Health
Organization found no adverse health effects associated with
dimethylpolysiloxane.
TBHQ is a preservative for vegetable oils and animal fats, limited to
.02 percent of the oil in the nugget. One gram (one-thirtieth of an
ounce) can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a
sense of suffocation, and collapse," according to “A Consumer’s
Dictionary of Food Additives.”
In 2003, McDonald’s launched smaller, all-white-meat McNuggets after a
federal judge dubbed the food “a McFrankenstein creation of various
elements not utilized by the home cook." Among the ingredients that
remained in the new McNuggets: tBHQ and dimethylpolysiloxane.
Christopher
Kimball, the founder and publisher of Cook’s Illustrated magazine
and host of the syndicated cooking show America’s Test Kitchen, says he
suspects these chemicals are required for the nuggets to hold their
shape and texture after being extruded into nugget-shaped molds.
“The regulations in Europe, in general, around food are much stricter
than the U.S.,” Kimball says.
______________________________________________________________________________
From CNN http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/25/a-tale-of-2-nuggets/?hpt=T2
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Friday, June 25, 2010
Whooping Cough
Widespread vaccination has gone a long way toward curbing whooping cough, a highly contagious infection that can be especially dangerous for babies too young to be immunized.
These little red specks are the bacteria that cause whooping cough.
We've never seen anyone sick with it — or heard the characteristic cough. But maybe that's because we're not in California. The state's health department says the infection has come roaring back this year and is now an epidemic.
By the middle of June, California had reports of 910 cases of whooping cough, or pertussis. At the same point last year, the state had seen only a quarter that number — or 219 cases.
Pertussis waxes and wanes. During the last peak five years ago in California, there were 3,182 cases and eight deaths, the health department said.
Already this year, though, whooping cough has claimed the lives of five infants, all of them less than 3 months old. If the cases keep rolling in as they have been, this could be the worst epidemic of whooping cough in the state in 50 years.
Babies can get their first shot against whooping cough at 2 months. But it takes three shots, usually done by 6 months, before the kids' immune systems are able to mount a strong defense against the bacteria that cause the cough.
The full battery of childhood vaccination against the illness consists of five shots, completed between ages 4 and 6. But the protection against pertussis isn't permanent, disappearing by the time kids reach middle school.
To protect babies, new parents should be get booster shots or full immunization before the birth. Same goes for relatives, kids and any other people who'll be around the new baby.
What are the signs of whooping cough? It starts like a regular cold but after a few weeks severe coughing spells set in. Kids can be sick for weeks or even months.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
UnNews:Natalie Merchant inducted into Muzak Hall of Fame - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
From Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia.
| This article is part of UnNews, your source for up-to-the-microsecond misinformation. |
Fayston is not alone in his tepid appreciation for Merchant's music. Amber Lee Murphy, a second-shift cashier at a White Hen Pantry in Newburyport, Mass., has her own story to tell. "It was about halfway through my first week here," she said. "I was restocking the ice freezer and I suddenly heard this voice singing this incredibly unremarkable song [on the store's music system] about how 'these are the days we'll remember,' or something, and I realized that the voice sounded familiar. About forty five minutes later the voice comes back, only this time it's singing about 'have I been blind' or something, I really can't remember. And that was how I met Natalie Merchant."
In an official statement, Muzak Hall of Fame chairman Grover Hammond said that Merchant "really earned this award," citing how she manages to strike the perfect balance. "She's really a rare find," he wrote. "Perhaps more than any other singer-songwriter in recent memory, Natalie Merchant has this gift for writing songs that you can really listen to without being interested in. Supermarkets, call centers and medium-distance commuters nationwide owe Ms. Merchant a debt of gratitude for this fantastic body of music that nobody would ever actually consider paying money to hear."
At the official ceremony, which was attended by over six people, Merchant was presented with a galvanized bowling trophy and a coupon for free bread sticks at Pizza Hut. Her likeness, in the form of a grainy blow-up of her driver's license photo, will hang in the Hall next to such greats as Jewel and Train for the next six months, at which point the building is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a methadone clinic.
UnNews:Natalie Merchant inducted into Muzak Hall of Fame - Uncyclopedia, the content-free encyclopedia
Nevada takes dubious jobless title from Michigan
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Nevada's jobless rate hit a record high last month and and is now the highest in the nation, the first time in four years that Michigan doesn't hold that distinction, according to a government report released Friday.
The Silver State's unemployment rate climbed to 14% in May, the highest in the state since 1976 when the Labor Department began collecting the data. It was up from 13.7% in April.
Meanwhile, joblessness slipped to 13.6% from 14% the previous month in Michigan, which has been ravaged by the struggles of the auto industry. The state has been the leader in unemployment rate since April 2006.
During the last year, Nevada has lost a net total of more than 29,000 jobs, and posts the highest percentage increase in unemployment at 2.5%. What if there's no fix for high unemployment?
"So much of Nevada's economy is tied to the gaming industry and housing sector, which continue to weigh on Nevada's labor market across the board," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo. "Consumer spending on travel and leisure is still in a pullback, and while the housing market is no longer in a free fall, there are still a lot of vacant homes in Nevada."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also said in a statement that mounting unemployment in the state is a sign that Nevada continues to suffer from extreme economic conditions.
"This increase in our unemployment rate only emphasizes the need to diversify our state's economy and create jobs," said Reid, who is in a difficult fight for re-election.
Though it's still the second highest in the nation, Michigan's unemployment rate has improved after peaking at 14.5% in December.
"Auto sales and production are up, and that has helped generate a little improvement in Michigan," said Vitner, highlighting that the state added 4,500 manufacturing jobs in May, likely due to hiring at auto plants. 0:00 /4:02Romer: 'We are adding jobs'
Meanwhile, a majority of U.S. states welcomed lower unemployment rates last month, the report said.
A total of 37 states and the nation's capital posted declines in jobless rates in May on a monthly basis. Unemployment increased in six states and seven states reported no changes.
On an annual basis, the job market is still sluggish. Joblessness climbed in 31 states and in Washington, D.C., from a year earlier, and only eased in 17 states.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Thursday, June 03, 2010
VetJobs June Veteran Eagle
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported the economy added 230,000 jobs in March, much more than the 162,000 jobs originally forecast. It revised figures in February to show that 39,000 jobs were added to the economy. I predict that as the economy improves and more workers re-enter the market in their search for a job in the coming months, the unemployment rate will remain in the realm of 9.8% to 10% or possibly higher.
As reported in the May 8 Wall Street Journal, the rise in unemployment from 9.7% to 9.9% was due in large part to the surge of some 805,000 into the labor force, as once-discouraged workers got back into the game as they perceive there may be signs of a stronger jobs market. However, many economists predict we will hover around 10% for at least a year before things really begin to turn around. With current economic and especially political conditions, employers, especially small employers, are not eager to start hiring. Small businesses are what have led America out of every recession in the past.
The good news is the April job growth of 290,000 was fairly widespread, with gains in manufacturing, professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality. Nonfarm employment has risen by 573,000 since December, with 483,000 jobs added in the private sector. Manufacturing continued to add jobs in April (44,000). Employment in this industry has increased by 101,000 since December. Three industries--fabricated metal products, machinery, and primary metals--have accounted for more than half of factory job gains so far this year.
Federal government employment rose in April, reflecting the hiring of 66,000 temporary workers for Census 2010. Employment in state and local governments was essentially unchanged, which is a reflection of the financial crisis many municipalities and states face due to falling tax revenues. There is always a lag between improving employment and tax collection.
But there are some concerns. The overall jobless rate, including people who have stopped looking, jumped to 17.1%, which is the highest rate this year. More disturbing, the share of those out of work for 27 weeks or more reached another record of 45.9%. This means that some 6.7 million Americans have spent more than half a year without maintaining the skills and contacts they will need to compete across a lifetime of work.
I agree with The Wall Street Journal‘s attributing some of the unemployment to the many expansions of the jobless insurance that Democrats insist on passing, thus increasing the incentive for long-term jobless people to hold out for a better-paying job that may take much longer to arrive, if it arrives at all. This is a false and very expensive compassion that hurts everyone.
And final good news, the U.S. manufacturing sector added an estimated 44,000 jobs during April, the largest monthly gain in nearly 12 years! More than 100,000 new manufacturing jobs have been added during the past four months alone.
The bottom line is there are a lot of conflicting currents currently in the economy. While things are improving, the improvements are anemic at best. But at least we are now off the floor of this recession and starting to move forward!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Republican Cost Cutting
Years ago, when I moved into a three-bedroom trailer in Ohio, it felt like moving on up to me. But then again, I wasn’t coming from a nearly $10,000-a-month, five-bedroom, seven-bath mansion with pecan-wood floors, a gourmet kitchen, three dining rooms and a swimming pool for which taxpayers were footing the bill.
Maybe that’s why Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) ungraciously turned down the Texas AFL-CIO’s offer to solve his temporary housing problem–the governor’s mansion is undergoing renovation, hence the rental–and save the taxpayers nearly $120,000 a year. Every penny counts when the state is $11 billion in the hole and is slashing billions from schools, universities, public safety and other vital programs.
Yesterday, the Texas AFL-CIO offered Perry the use of a brand spanking new, 1,100 square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath mobile home with brand new appliances for just $1 a year. On top of that, it is located at the state federation’s downtown Austin offices, within walking distance to the Capitol, cutting down Perry’s big carbon boot print from the black limo entourage that chauffeurs him to work each day from his gated community in the West Austin hills.
At the press conference with the shiny new green and white governor’s-mansion-in-waiting behind her, Texas AFL-CIO President Becky Moeller said that in light of the state’s $11 billion budget shortfall and coming budget cuts that threaten the jobs of thousands of state workers:
That might be tough because Perry’s idea of comfortable living probably goes beyond a nice recliner and cable TV, according to a recent story by the Associated Press that documents the extravagant life behind the locked gates of his toney Barton Creek Estates.
At Perry’s temporary home (listed for sale at $1.85 million in 2007) taxpayers have spent nearly $600,000 for rent, utilities, repairs, furnishings and supplies since Perry moved in, including:
- $18,000 for “consumables” such as household supplies and cleaning products.
- $44,000 for ground and lawn maintenance.
- $8,400 for pool maintenance.
While Moeller didn’t say if the mobile mansion’s fridge had an icemaker, it was stocked with copies of Food and Wine and complimentary hair products, a nice touch for a politician noted for his well-coifed mane.
To be fair, and we are all about fairness, Perry has cut back on expenses to do his part to help the struggling state budget. The AP reports that Perry’s spokeswomen Allison Castle says Perry now has just one housekeeper and one full-time chef. But there is also a part-time chef and a steward. Not exactly heartbreaking sacrifices or “doing without,” said Moeller.